What is .af TLD
.af is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Afghanistan. As a namespace, it anchors addressing, routing, and branding for entities seeking Afghan digital identity. In practice, .af domains resolve like any other TLD, hosting .af websites for government, civil society, and commerce, while remaining open to qualified international registrants via accredited channels. We observe typical use across second‑level registrations and structured third‑level spaces (e.g., com.af) depending on policy. From an SEO perspective, .af signals geographic relevance and can assist search engines with regional intent. Infrastructure relies on the global DNS, with anycast name servers and IPv6 connectivity common in modern operations. We analyze lifecycle events—creations, renewals, nameserver shifts—to quantify risk and opportunity. Explore .af domain datasets from webatla.
History and key features of .af TLD
The .af TLD was delegated in the late 1990s as Afghanistan’s ccTLD and has since undergone governance transitions aligning with ICANN frameworks. Administration is performed by the national registry, with policies enabling direct second‑level registrations and optional third‑level labels such as com.af, org.af, and net.af. For .af domains and .af websites, modern features typically include anycasted authoritative DNS, IPv6 reachability, and registrar‑implemented security controls like DNSSEC and registry locks where available. Dispute mechanisms generally follow UDRP‑style processes or local variants, and eligibility rules are published by the registry and registrars. We compile longitudinal zone data to track adoption trends, hosting geographies, and TTL hygiene that affect resilience and performance. Analyze .af domain datasets from webatla today.
Why and who choose the .af domain
Organizations with Afghan audiences, public bodies, NGOs, media outlets, and diaspora entrepreneurs often choose the .af domain to signal locality and trust. Multinationals also deploy .af domains for market‑specific landing pages and defensively to protect brands, while .af websites can geotarget content, currencies, or languages. We advise evaluating policy fit, renewal costs, registrar SLAs, and sanctions‑compliance considerations that may affect procurement or hosting. Hosting outside the region is common; nonetheless, latency, CDN coverage, and DNS provider diversity materially influence user experience and risk. Our data shows that naming patterns, NS consolidation, and MX configurations reveal ecosystem maturity and email deliverability. We benchmark these operational markers against comparable ccTLDs to inform portfolio decisions. Examine .af domain datasets from webatla now.